I found
Garry Will’s writings on John Wayne interesting, mainly because I’ve always
heard so much hype around John Wayne, but never really understood why, even
after watching several of his movies. What seems to be most captivating about
Wayne is something I don’t see as entirely concrete; everybody just thinks he
has a very masculine presence/body. Most of this is contributed to his “walk”
and ability to carry himself with some sort of grace and poise by taking “easy
control of his large body.” With comments such as, “The sonuvabitch looked like
a man,” and that, “there was something overpoweringly sexy in the way Wayne sat
and rode his horse,” it just doesn’t seem very convincing as to why people
considered him the epitome of masculinity, the reason seemed to be that, he
just was.
What I found
particularly interesting was the deep analysis of Wayne’s walk. It was a big
contributing factor in why he was highly admired and praised. The man
apparently knew how to really sell his performance through his body language
while simultaneously becoming the idol of what it meant to be “a man” to boys
everywhere. But what’s weird is the fact that he was applauded for being so
light and graceful and easy while still maintaining this very rugged manly
figure and aura. These seem to be characteristics that are stereotypically
female and even the notion of studying his walk was weird to Wayne as it was
deemed “unmanly for a male to be as conscious of his body’s display…” I feel
like noticing a walk is something stereotypically “analyzed” in women, usually
for purposes of over sexualization, whether it be a model walking the catwalk
or a woman walking down the street.Yet it was something Wayne's fans couldn't stop talking about.
While there
were many other factors that contributed to Wayne’s maleness, such as the way
he spoke, the way he dressed, as well as the values he stood for in real life,
the focus on his walk takes precedence over all. Wayne could not only talk the
talk, but he could walk the walk.
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